(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to containers for use in the storage of disc-shaped recording media and particularly to magazines for storing multiple discs wherein selected individual discs may be ejected from the magazine. More specifically, this invention is directed to the storage of plate-like, i.e., flat, recording media and especially to the selection and retrieval of individual of such media from a magazine in which plural media are stored. Accordingly, the general objects of the present invention are to provide novel and improved apparatus and methods of such character.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Apparatus for the storage of plural record media is known in the art. In its most common form, such prior art apparatus is designed to hold, and to present for use upon selection, standard magnetic tape cassettes. The apparatus of the prior art includes a housing, having an access opening at one side thereof, and plural slider members on which the stored cassettes are supported. The slider members are guided for movement relative to the housing between an inserted or storage position and an ejected or cassette removal position. The slider members will be locked in the storage position and the selection process comprises unlocking an individual slider so that the cassette supported thereon is presented at least partly outside of the housing for removal from the slider and subsequent use. The prior art cassette storage apparatus is characterized by convenient operation resulting, in part, from the location of the means for achieving the unlocking of the slider members on the front face of the apparatus.
A container or magazine of the type briefly and generally described above would be desirable for other types of recording media, for example records or video discs, and especially for so-called "compact" discs which are laser scannable discettes or other magnetic discs. Recording media such as compact discs and discettes are very thin in relation to their diameters. If the approach to cassette storage is implemented in the storage of such thin discs, whereby each disc would be associated with a separate slider member, the storage apparatus would be characterized by a high degree of volumetric inefficiency. On the other hand, any attempt to reduce the thickness of the prior art storage containers would render such apparatus difficult to operate and contribute to instability.